USVI-On-Line

We don't want to bring frozen foods with us to STJ, but we are considering throwing some non-perishables into our checked luggage. What are some of the items that you folks bring?

We brought peanut butter, fluff, crackers, mac&cheese, pasta (all for the kids). I also packed peanuts,cashews, Pringles mini-packs, and other snacky kinds of things. We used all of it. Brought nothing back.

We usually have a group of 8 so we always pack one suitcase full of food and our snorkel gear. We take a pound of our favorite coffee from the coffee shop, powdered creamer, peanut butter, cereal, splenda, tea, jelly, bread, bagels, pringles, crackers and whatever else we think of at the time. I really does save a lot of money on breafast's and snack food.

We take coffee, granola bars, dried fruit (like cranberries), nuts, and packets of salt, pepper, and sugar. We have friends who always take packets of tuna, shrimp, etc. and mayonnaise so they can make salads and sandwiches. We like to make trips to the grocery store, so we buy a lot of things when we get there. Supports the local economy and what better way to hang out with the locals...

Mostly to pass time I kept thinking of small things to take, the things we used the most were:

Ziploc Bag (half-full) of hickory chips for the BBQ

A small whetstone to sharpen what is usually a dull villa knife.

Starbucks

Cashews from Costco

2-3 ziplocs of spices (for example Montreal Steak Seasoning, Cumin, whatever you like.

2 kitchen trash bags to use as dirty clothes bags for return

Small condiments gathered from a year of room service dining such as A-1.

We found in total these took up no room really and it seems crazy to lug a jar of spice down there when you need 1 TBS.

The other thing we did - more as a principal (recycling etc) matter was to refill the gallon jugs of water at St. Water and Ice in the Lumberyard complax.. The case of 4 gallons was originally $6 at Starfish, it took about 2 minutes to refill them mid-week at 50 cents a gallon.

Mark

I take Malibar Gold espresso beans( because I'm addicted) and a small coffee grinder. Other than that, we shop at Pine Peace, Starfish Markets, and Josephine's.(Coral Bay Garden Center) http://www.onepaper.com/virginvoices/?v ... 1105682719 It's nice to help the local economy....plus I have a hard time deciding what clothes to pack. It might just put me over the edge if I added packing food to the mix. ....mia

We never bother with the perishables - we are big on eating out for at least half the lunches and most of the dinners - but we bring everything for breakfast and snacks:

Ground coffee (and enough filers for the trip - some cone and some basket just in case)
Sugar (we like the "sugar in the raw")
Splenda
Bisquick biscuit mixes (we make biscuits for breakfast with added dried fruit and nuts and cinnamon - and then use the mix for other things like flouring fish etc)
Cereal, oatmeal and other warm cereal
Dried fruit (cranberries, cherries etc for the biscuits or cereal)
Cinnamon (for cereal, coffee etc)
Hot spice mix (good for fish, or for sandwiches)
Nuts (walnuts, almonds, cashews - both for snacks and for the biscuits and morning cereal)
Crackers
Ziploc bags - we use them for EVERYTHING
Condiments (mustard, mayo etc in mini sizes)
Salad dressing (small sizes like one Ken's raspberry and one balsamic vinagrette)

When we get to wherever we are going we get:
Milk, butter, eggs, bread, yogurt, fruit, salad, limes/lemons, fruit drinks (mango, papaya, passionfruit etc are always cheap) a can of coco lopez, lots of limes and lemons, liquor, water bottles (we drink the water - and then fill them half full and freeze them every night - then fill the rest with water in the morning and use to have cold water all day - and to keep the soft cooler cool - so handy)

That's about the plan......

We just bring the things we can't really get on island: the olive oil we like, the spices I need (packed into tiny tins and then sealed with my vacuum sealer--we leave the remainders at the villa. We go to STJ spice for hot sauces and curries though), the tea we prefer, a good pepper grinder full of tellicherry peppercorns, a screwpull, and my chefs knife.

mia wrote:I take Malibar Gold espresso beans( because I'm addicted) and a small coffee grinder.

I love Malabar Gold! I buy it green and roast it myself (because I'm a geek ). Have you ever tried Black Cat from Intelligentsia in Chicago?

I'm bringing a couple of pounds of coffee (I haven't decided what kind yet, maybe an island theme ), a hand grinder, and some of the individual serving size packets of Crystal Light and some necessary condiments. I think that's it for our first trip.

Ron,
You are not a geek....wish I could roast my own
beans Is 'Black Cat' from Intelligentsia your favorite and can I order it online? I'll google Intelligentsia...take a look at their web site. Thanks for the recommendation ....mia

mia wrote:Ron,
You are not a geek....

Yes I am, but thanks for the nice thoughts

Coffee roasting is actually pretty easy. I won't go on about it here but it you want more info just let me know.

Black Cat is one of my favorites along with Kid O Organic Espresso from Intelligentsia (www.intelligentsiacoffee.com). They do mail order and they roast for small orders generally on Tuesday and ship the same day via USPS Priority Mail so you should have the coffee in hand on Thursday.

I also enjoy Espresso Dolce from Espresso Vivace (http://www.espressovivace.com/blends.html).

There are some great ideas here, folks! Thanks!

We bring peanut butter crackers, mac and cheese, pizza sauce, Boboli pizza crusts and spices we can't live without. We also bring whatever snacky stuff we want at the beach like Pop Tarts. This sort of stuff is very expensive on St John.

I noticed a lot of you take coffee. The wife has wanted to take it in the past but I was afraid the TSA drug dogs would hit on the smell. Since coffee has been used in the past to mask the smell of drugs to the dogs they are now trained to hit on it. I was afraid we would get to STT airport and have a big mess inside the luggage. Has anybody ever had this happen? If not we will save a few dollars and bring our own coffee.

nascarfan59,
We have taken our own coffee to St. John three times and have not been "busted" yet. Your post has made me a little bit nervous about the next time though!